[Insight-developers] HealthVault Data Types : Microsoft asking for feedback

[Luis Ibanez]

Subject: Medical Image Data Type in HealthVault - looking for feedback
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:04:22 -0700
From: Khan Siddiqui <Khan.Siddiqui at microsoft.com<Khan.Siddiqui%40microsoft.com>
>
To: Khan Siddiqui <Khan.Siddiqui at microsoft.com<Khan.Siddiqui%40microsoft.com>
>

Hi,
The HealthVault<http://www.healthvault.com/> team has posted the initial
draft design for medical image data type to their data type blog. Please
visit
http://blogs.msdn.com/healthvaultdatatypes/archive/2009/07/09/for-review-medical-image-study.aspxand
give them feedback.

Regards,

Khan

Khan M. Siddiqui, MD | Principal Program Manager | Medical Imaging
Health Solutions Group | Microsoft Corporation
5404 Wisconsin Ave | Suite 600 | Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
Office: (301) 771-8568 | Mobile: (443) 847-5106 | Fax: (301) 771-8184
[cid:image001.png at 01CA03F0.24921BF0 <image001.png%4001CA03F0.24921BF0>]
khan.siddiqui at microsoft.com <khan.siddiqui%40microsoft.com><mailto:
khan.siddiqui at microsoft.com <khan.siddiqui%40microsoft.com>> |
www.microsoft.com/hsg<http://www.microsoft.com/hsg>

-------------------------------------------------

For Review: Medical Image Study

We've had several requests for a new data type to store medical images and
we are now at a point in our research and design that we'd like to hear from
our larger HealthVault community.  We've found that DICOM is the generally
accepted format for storing medical images today so we've designed this data
type to include structural and metadata similaities while limited the
exposed data to what we believe is the most consumer friendly.

There are a few scenarios we've targeted in the design of this data type:

   1. Systems generating medical images can now store those images in a
   patient's HealthVault record instead of creating a DVD, CD or other portable
   media. Today, when a patient requests a copy of their medical images from a
   CT, MRI, mamogram, etc, those images are burned to portable media which gets
   added to the shoebox of all the other studies the patient has requested.
   The intent of this data type is to help replace that shoebox full of discs.
   2. The shoebox full of discs serves a purpose of being an electronic
   history of various studies that can be taken for a second opinion or further
   analysis.  For systems that understand medical images, they should also be
   able to understand medical images stored in HealthVault.
   3. The consumer should be able to accurately transfer their existing
   medical images to their HealthVault record.  This new data type should be
   capable of storing all existing medical images that can be uploaded by a
   consumer.

We fully expect consuming applications to crack open the actual image files
to get all the details of the study, series, but we hope that the defined
schema will help make the decision on what to open a bit easier.

The image data stored using this data type will be large in both quantity
and size and our current XML storage approach doesn't optimize for binary
content like images. To help mitigate this, HealthVault provides seperate
binary storage we call blob storage (blobs).  Each instance of data in
HealthVault can also include a blob of additional data and with the
introduction of this data type, the HealthVault platform will support
multiple named blobs per data instance. You'll find in this data type that
we use blobs in a few places.  Specifically, blobs are used to store the set
of medical images, a directory listing all blob names for the original
images, a collection of key images, and a preview image for a study, series,
and images.

We have a few specific questions that we'd like your help in answering:

   - The first is around the use of c-FIND.  In our research, we found that
   there are additional required elements for c-FIND that are perhaps less
   meaningful for consumers. If you use c-FIND today and/or have scenarios
   where it applies to HealthVault data, please let us know. We expect
   consuming applications to crack open the actual image files to get all the
   details of the study, series, but we hope that the defined schema will help
   make the decision on what to open a bit easier.
   - The second question is around XDS-i support.  The data type design
   below includes a single element for all XDS-i information you might want to
   include with a medical image study.  It uses the anyType definition so you
   are not limited to a single schema. We would like your feedback on how you
   are planning to use this element in your scenario so we can better determine
   if this design is sufficient.
   - The last is whether the list of elements we have defined is the right
   set.  We've picked the ones we think are meaningful for consumers and that
   represent the data being stored.

Take a look and let us know what you think by using the Data Types
forum<http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/HealthVaultDataTypes/threads/>
.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/HealthVaultDataTypes/threads/
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